


Possession

by LightningBolt13



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 11:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8325748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningBolt13/pseuds/LightningBolt13
Summary: [Repost from FF.net] With his life at stake, Pride manages to gain control over Edward's body, siding with Father above the surface. What does everyone do when one of their greatest allies are against them?





	1. Chapter 1

The five sacrifices stood in disbelief at what was happening. Everything erupted into sheer madness, and it didn't seem like there was much hope left to stop this. There was a god above the ground, with the intention of having the world in the palm of his hands. The godlike figure launched himself above ground on a pillar of hardened lava.

"He's going to replenish his stone supply…" said a man with golden hair, eyes and beard.

The sacrifices and two Xingese warriors stared up at the column erecting into the sky, wondering what to do. Not even exchanging a word, the Xingese man skipped up the walls, holding onto the chain latched on the surface so support. He stopped on the floor above, out of view to those below.

"Ling! Hey, wait!" said a big suit of armor with a young voice. He reached up to the manwho left, hoping that'd he'd stop. He kneeled down to the injured Xingese girl next to him, who was huffing out of exhaustion.

"After him!" a woman said, bringing back order to the confused group. She made her way over to the fifth sacrifice, who was blinded, in order for the homunculi's causes. She kneeled down to him and told him that they'd get him somewhere safe. They didn't want any harm to come to him in his condition. He apologized for being so useless at such a desparate time. She reassured him and helped him get back onto his feet.

The suit of armor turned around, hoping to find his brother standing next to him. He was many feet away, being held by shadows wrapped tight around his right and left arm. A small child stood on the small circle of shadows, covering his right eye with his hand.

"Brother!" the suit of armor called out to his brother, about to try and help him.

"Al, just go," his brother called out him from afar. "This little brat still wants a piece of me…!" The older brother strained his arms so the shadows would lose their grip.

The woman and suit of armor stood, hesitant on whether to help him or not.

"You'd better win, Ed!" his teacher called out to him, whispering to Alphonse to go.

"Right…!" Edward responsed, still struggling to get his arms free.

Their teacher made her way back over to the blind man, making sure he was okay. Alphonse did the same to the Xingese girl. The teacher and student both clapped their hands together and pressed them on the ground, creating two towers to lead them to the surface. The boys' father didn't need any effort into making his own tower, it began to spiral up once he figured the others were ready.

Edward's focused turned again to the homunculus child holding him captive. But the homunculi's attention was not on him. He had a look of sheer annoyance on his face.

"Damn you Greed… Don't you know that you're one of the homunculi too? Where's your honor…."

Edward scowled, responding, "So you should just be a good boy and do what your father tells you?!" He tried to bring his arm closer to him, hoping Pride's shadows would let go, only letting the tendrils cut into his skin deeper. Pride gave him a nonchalant look, not amused by the simple question. Ed felt himself get torn from the ground, only to be reunited with it seconds later. He landed with his back crashing to the floor first, knocking the wind out of his chest. Ed gasped for air, as he lay on the floor.

"That's a stupid question. What child doesn't obey their father's orders?" Pride responded. Ed coughed before he started up again, "You're the stupid one… You guys are brainless zombies who never tried to think for themselves…"

Ed finally got a reaction out of Pride. He lifted him up again and threw him into a wall. Edward's head smashed against the surface. Sliding to the floor again, there was a loud ringing in his ears. His head made first contact, adding to the more pain Pride was giving him. He landed on his forearms, not ready to admit defeat for the homunculus yet. He struggled to get onto his knees to push himself back up. Ed groaned, "Tell me Pride… Why do you follow him?" Pride didn't respond, and Ed knew he got him. "Look at yourself. We've been breaking you apart, and he hasn't even looked back at you."

Pride removed his hand from the right side of his face, revealing a gaping hole filled with tormented souls. "So what if Father doesn't?!" His voice growled with frustration and regret. Shadows emerged from hole, filling the hole from his eroding container. "Don't try to force your flawed human logic on me…!"

Pride spotted a cut on Ed's chin. Pride flashed the smallest smirk across his lips as his shadows rose up behind him. Ed finally knelt on his knees and looked up, only to see a whir of black aiming at his face. Ed could feel the shadow's streaming through his blood. Veins stretched from the wound, up past Edward's left eye and down his neck and arm. They felt like daggers wanting to cut him from the inside out. Ed hissed, trying to contain the agony he felt.

"This container won't last much longer... You share the same blood as my father, so we're basically brothers. So Edward… Your body belongs to me!" Pride pushed the shadows deeper under Ed's skin. Pride made sure that his arms were restrained, so he couldn't attempt to pull the shadows out.

The vision faded from Edward's left eye. He couldn't contain his screams as the pain got unbearable. Pride ignored his screaming as he injected his own Philosopher's Stone into Edward's blood stream.

Pride cracked a menacing smirk as his stone gained dominance over the boy's body. The small homunculus watched as Edward's body convulsed being destroyed from the inside out. His body and determination was too strong to die so easily, Pride knew that his plan would work. Pride felt his body unraveling, a sign of success. Pride moved closer to Ed's face, his skin falling apart, like gauze.

"Do you like the feeling of you losing control of your own body?" he gave off a pleased smile with what was left of his face. Ed ceased his screaming, trying to look the homunculus in the face. He tried to say "Damn it" but the only thing that came out was a stream of blood. Pride turned away from him, the last of his body disintegrating, and his clothes floating to the ground. Edward let out the last of his screams as the rest of the shadows poured through is wound. He tried to keep his hold on his consciousness but blacked out immediately as Pride disappeared.

* * *

 

Edward woke up minutes later, his face pressed on the ground. He slowly got up onto his knees, sweat running down his face and neck, blood streaming from his newly damaged wound. He looked at his hands, covered in sweat. He clenched his hands, which started trembling with laughter.

"Yes, this is good!" his voice had a strange echo, as he snickered under his breath.

His right eye's color was no longer his golden yellow, but a flat purple, and his left eye's pupil was no longer visible, with strange veins protruding from under his eyelids.

Edward was no longer there, Pride had won over his body.


	2. Chapter 2

_The small homunculus watched the car drove away in the direction of Central, leaving dust clouds behind. He smirked and closed his eyes._

" _Brave humans are so easy to trick…" he said, sighing._

_He looked over at the man, laying on the floor, blood covering his torso and mouth. "Oh? So you're still alive? That color suits you very well, Kimblee."_

_Shadows spread under the child's feet, red eyes glaring. "I can see why one would call lions 'Kings of the jungle'. He went straight for your throat… Very in tune with the idea of 'survival of the fittest'." He started laughing. "Humans really have no place in this world at all, do they? You always said you wanted to see which side the world would choose? And here you are, dying, like a pathetic rat…" Pride's eyes got a menacing glow to them._

" _I'd might as well end your suffering."_

_Pride's shadows came up behind him like a curtain, and away they went, slashing at the dying man's body. He left him as a pile of carved-up flesh and blood-stained clothes._

* * *

The homunculus stood up, still laughing at his achievement. The wounds left on the boy's body sealed up, red lightning strikes lighting up around the wounds. The scars on his body still remained, but he ignored it. He stared at his new hands, thinking intently.

_I wonder with this body… Can I use alchemy?_

He spread his hands apart, then slapping them together, his left hand stinging from the force that his right hand left. He kneeled back to the ground, pressing his hands on the concrete.

Nothing happened.

He frowned, disappointed. "I may have acquired Edward Elric's body, but I haven't acquired any of his knowledge in alchemy… Oh well." He stood back up, shadows spreading from under his feet. "I still have my shadows, so that's acceptable." His shadows erected, like the alchemical towers nearby. He patiently waited to reach above ground. He ran his fingers through his golden blonde hair, undoing the braid it was styled in. 

* * *

The Xingese girl next to Al, May Chang, flinched, looking at the hole they just emerged from. She moved closer to the suit of armor, tugging on his loincloth.

"Alphonse, there's something coming up."

_Something?_ He looked down at young girl, asking for clarification. "Something like what?" May tensed up, continuing. "The homunculus you called Pride, I think that's him, coming up…"

_Pride? Then what about brother?_

They waited for Pride to resurface. To their disbelief, the person they saw jump out of the hole was none other than Edward Elric. He squatted on the ground, bracing the landing. He stood back up, looking at those who arrived above ground. His bangs were covering his left eye. He spread a smile that was not like Ed.

"Hey, Alphonse, are you doing okay?" Edward asked, sliding his hands up to his hips. "Brother?" he wanted to go to him, but something wasn't right. "What have you done with Edward, homunculus?!" May blurted out. The smile faded from his face, he eyed Greed, creeping up next to them.

Pride scowled at them, while they stared at him. No one made a move, not even Father. The soldiers held their fire, avoiding as many casualties as possible.

"I can't believe you figured me out so soon… I was hoping to have some fun with you all."

"So, you managed to take his body, Pride?" Greed started.

"Yes, I did. Rather easily, actually." The smile returned to his face, and closed his eyes. He started snickering. "Can you believe it? The famous FullMetal Alchemist can't even win when his life is at stake!" His laughing got louder. "It's pathetic, really."

Alphonse tensed up, his armor shifting, and making noise. "Is… Is my brother still there?" he asked softly.

"Unfortunately, he is. He's fighting very hard. Though, he's troublesome, I wish his consciousness would fade away."

"Enough talk, Pride. Eliminate these foolish humans." Father said, the first to accept this tragedy.

Everyone turned to face him, everyone still shocked about what was happening. "Right," Pride continued. He stroked his automail arm. It was cold. How could have Ed lived with this for 4 years? "I need to take care of this awful automail arm… It's been hindering my regenerative abilities… We wouldn't want my arm growing over this metal, now do we?" Greed emitted a low "ugh" at the thought of the skin and bone growing on top of the automail. Sparks flashed from the joint of Pride's shoulder. Pitch black shadows with menacing red eyes opening up and teeth bearing unnerving smirks slid under the automail connecting it to his chest. He separated the prosthetic from his body, skin still holding on to the metal. Blood gushed out of the gaping wound, causing massive crimson puddles on the ground, only for it to disintegrate into dust. Pride flinched at the pain of the nerves being forcefully severed from the automail.

Some bystanders covered their mouths, in disgust of what they were seeing.

The muscles of his arm stretched and disconnected, blood dripping from the tissue. Once the arm was disconnected from Pride's chest, it limply slid off of the shadows, crashing on the ground in a heap of metal and blood. The fresh wound on Pride's body immediately started flashing red, the arm already starting to grow back. He smeared some of the blood on his body on his chest, watching it turn black, and fade away. He looked up at the onlookers, still smirking at them.

"Now… Where were we?" he wiped away the blood that started to dribble out of his mouth.


	3. Chapter 3

Pride observed his newly grown arm, tightening his hand and relaxing, bending his elbows. He looked very satisfied, ignoring the scar that still remain on his shoulder. Shadows spread from under Pride's feet like a puddle. The sacrifices and soldiers backed away from the homunculus teen, as he watched them with amusement. He locked eye contact with the armor that could be identified as his brother. Alphonse's soul shivered, as he felt Pride's dull purple eyes bore into his soul-fire ones. He was frozen in place; he couldn't believe what was happening. But Pride said Edward was still there, but could he really believe him?

"Hmm… Where was I?" Pride rubbed his chin, spreading a smirk on his face. "Yes, I believe I was going to send the armored boy to his grave." Alphonse barely flinched.

Pride's shadows shot out toward the large suit of armor, impaling his legs and arms, pinning him to the ground. Another shadow rose up behind the blond boy, ready to launch at the armor, aiming where Al's blood seal would be.

The fourth sacrifice, Izumi Curtis, steadied herself a good distance away from the homunculus, out of his sight. She clapped her hands and pressed them on the ground, erecting a long tower, smashing into Pride's side, throwing him off balance, and rolling away on the ground. His shadows removed themselves from Al's limbs, freeing him from his restraints. He scrambled to his feet, trying to get his head into place to fight back. But he couldn't fight his own brother…

Pride coughed, some blood dripping from his lips. Sparks came from under his shirt, healing the broken ribs from Izumi's attack. He got back up, wobbling a little, frustration written over his face. He moved his bangs from in front of his face, trying to see a little better with his one useful eye. Playing with his hair, he revealed his deformed eye. Pride sighed. "I've always wanted to try this…" He stretched out his right arm, wrapping his own shadows around it, forming a long and dark blade. "It'd be nice to try out close range combat."

Izumi flinched, as the boy raced towards her. She ducked as he swung at her head. Barely missing her.

_He's fast, but he's not precise when he's aiming…_ Izumi thought. She swung at Pride's chest, pulling her punch, but still knocked the wind out of his lungs. She backed up, getting as much distance as possible before he recovered. She went over to Alphonse, who was still frozen in place.

"Alphonse! You have to move, he's going to kill you!"

She tried pushing him to move, but he wouldn't budge.

"But Brother… Pride says Brother is still there; we can't kill him!"

"Al, we don't have to kill him. But do you know how to stop him?" She finally got Alphonse moving, trying to dodge the black tendrils that pierced into the ground behind them. She clapped her hands again, placing them to the ground, making another tower behind Pride, to distract him. He turned around, slicing the pillar into rubble before it could reach him.

"Alphonse! How do we stop him?!" Izumi yelled at the boy. There's no more time to be wasted. It could cost them their lives. They both jumped in opposite directions, as Pride tried to swipe in between them. He grunted as he missed, but swung for Izumi's legs, making a red line across her left thigh. She kneeled on the ground after her landing, covering the newly opened wound, warm red liquid covering her palm. She strained to get back on to her feet, her leg throbbing.

Pride smirked at her, staring into eyes, feeding from her fear. She hid it well; she looked stressed, at the least. Izumi tried to look into his eyes, but saw nothing but satisfaction. She tried to stay calm as she observed the empty void that was Pride's left eye. His smirked only widened as he saw her fear intensify. The ground rose up behind Pride, concealing him in a dome of concrete. Izumi looked past the dome, seeing Alphonse getting back onto his feet. He didn't look at his teacher, who was very relieved.

"You have to seal him in complete darkness to immobilize him." Alphonse said, his voice low.

His teacher sighed, directing her attention back to Father, who was protecting himself from an oncoming barrage of attacks with a red force field. The teacher and pupil went over to rejoin the boy's father, Van Hohenheim. The fighting slowed down by a lot. The bearded man sighed.

"You call yourself the ultimate being, but in reality your existence is just a dead end." Hohenheim pointed at the god-like being.

The young Xingese girl made her way back to Alphonse, she'd been too injured to try fighting. They watched Father rub his chin, thinking of a response. The atmosphere was tense and silent.

"But what if I were to birth humans?"

Everyone stood still, confused at the question.

* * *

Pride pounded at the walls with his metal leg, they were thin enough to break through. The cement crumbled, letting the light into the dome. He crawled out of his prison looking to see where the action was. He made his way over to the sacrifices, but stopped when he saw a blind white light appear in front of Father. His eyes widened in realization as to what Father were doing. But it wasn't him who got scared. His head was pounding, and he could barely move. He put his hands on his forehead trying to fight off the pain.

He was losing control.

His eye changed from its once dark purple back to gold.

"Alphonse!"

The armored boy thought he heard a familiar voice. He tried to turn around, but was blinded by the light.


	4. Chapter 4

Pride felt his arm reaching out for the armored boy, who was shoving the young Xingese girl behind him. He called for the boy, trying to get his attention, the echo in his voice now gone. His head was pounding; he couldn't control his body. He was being pushed back into his own subconsciousness, starting to hear the screaming souls of his Philosopher's Stone once again.

Alphonse turned around, trying to find the source of the familiar voice. The only thing he saw was a flash of golden from the homunculus's eyes before he himself was blinded from the light.

Pride slipped from control, plunging back into the turmoil of souls. He scowled, shaming himself for letting himself slip so easily. But there's a rare chance of Edward's body surviving this blast. He strained to get back into control, even just to use his abilities. He couldn't let this body go to waste, not yet anyway.

Edward felt a burning sensation over his whole body, like his limbs were being burned off. He tried to brace himself for the pain, but it was nearly impossible to ignore it. Then the burning stopped, but the pain still remained. He looked in front of him, seeing a wall of black that cut off Father's blast. Not even Pride's shadows were immune to Father's destruction. Patched of the wall began to disintegrate, making the burning start again. The pain was unbearable, his hold on his consciousness quickly fading. Before he knew it, he blacked out.

* * *

Ed floated in an expansive space, souls screaming around him. His arms were folded; he looked up at the entity that invaded his body in disgust. "I saw you put up that wall, Pride. Why were you protecting me?"

Silence.

Edward smirked. "Now you're making me think you've grown a liking to me."

"Only to your body, not to you." It responded, its voice ringing out around everything. "I've just received this body, I'm not letting it go to waste so easily."

"Receive? It's more like you _stole_ it from me." His smirk faded and turned into a scowl again. "Why so silent all of a sudden, Pride?" Edward was taking amusement from Pride's silence. He brushed the hair that was whipping around his body out of his face. "You may've won over my body, but that was only luck. I'll get my body back, don't you dare underestimate me."

"Don't worry, I won't."

* * *

Edward's eyes flashed open, his head flaring with pain. He was lucky to have gained control first, now he'd just need to keep Pride at bay. He felt burning all over his body, especially on his face. He tried to reach up to feel his cheek, but his arms had been singed off from Father's attack. A lot of his face had been burned off; blood seeped from the wounds, staining his clothes. He felt nauseous watching the wounds spark, then seeing them on his body close up. But that wasn't important. Ed's head whipped around, looking for his brother. He spotted him feet away, shielding May Chang, who was stuck under a pile of rubble, bloody and bruised. But Al's damage made his heart sink.

His chest plate and legs had been blown to pieces; he looked on the verge of crumbling into pieces. May crawled out from under the rubble, squeaking in pain. She gasped, looking at Alphonse.

"May… Thank goodness you're alive…"

"A-Alphonse…! You're…!" she tried to say, before being cut off by Alphonse's body crashing to the ground.

Edward's eyes widened in fear, seeing his brother like that.

"Alphonse!" He rushed over to his brother, not in the best shape himself. The girl turned around eyeing him in disgust. She hurried to stand and protect Alphonse, pulling out a kunai from under her clothes. Edward stopped in his tracks, not wanting to get attacked by the girl. "Stay away from Alphonse, homunculus!"

"Wait, I'm not Pride! I'm Edward, I swear!" he sounded desperate; he needed to get to his brother. May held her ground, not believing him. But something felt different about him; it may just be Edward. She looked at his right eye, seeing his normal gold. She relaxed a little at the sight, still skeptical of him. She lowered her weapon, moving aside for him to see his brother. He kneeled at his brother's side, calling his name. He couldn't pick him up; his arms were still regenerating. "Al! Alphonse! Are you there?" He kept screaming for his brother until he sat back up, pieces of his armor falling off. He looked up at his brother; he looked like he was going to cry. "B-Brother… You're back! Your arms!"

"Al, are you okay?" Edward said, disregarding Alphonse's concern.

"I – I'm fine. Just go and fight Father, I'll be fine, Brother."

"I don't know if I can, Pride's trying very hard to get back into control…" Edward said in between hisses. "Brother, I know you can do it."

Ed tried to spread a smile, but covered his face with his newly regenerated left arm. The pain was unbearable; it felt like his head was going to split in half. He felt blood starting to drip out of his nose; the resisting was putting too much strain on his body.

"Brother, stop! Your body is going to die!"

"Al…" Edward looked into his brother's soul-fire eyes; they were flickering with desperation. "I'll be fine Al, I promise. Just stay as far away from me as possible!" He started making as much distance as he could between them. His nose was practically pouring out with blood, he couldn't hold off much longer. He was a good distance away, but Pride would just head right back. The tempest of souls all came back into earshot, they were pulling him back in. There was no point in resisting anymore, at this rate they'd both die. And Edward couldn't leave his little brother all alone.

* * *

Ed returned into the hell that was his own consciousness, looking directly at Pride. He took the form of the shadows he used as a weapon, multiple red eyes and white teeth flashing at him.

"You're becoming more of an annoyance the longer you live. I was hoping I could let you live long enough to kill all the ones you love right in front of your eyes. But you're getting in the way."

Edward felt a vast number of hands pulling on him; they felt like they were ripping him apart. He saw his body slowly being deconstructed, his limbs falling apart in flakes. "What the hell are you doing to me?!"

"I'm integrating your soul into the Philosopher's Stone."

"Like hell you are. I'm getting you out of my body!"

Pride ignored Edward's protests, and took control again. He observed the gaping wound on his right side; it sparked red, the blood running down from it that quickly turned into dust. _This would take too much energy to regenerate this; the amount of souls I've lost from Edward's resistance was too many._

Pride's shadows wrapped themselves around his torso, replacing the missing arm. It still sparked, but the homunculus disregarded it. He headed back into the scene of action; slicing the Briggs soldiers he passed. He watched the blood fly past him, making him smirk in delight. He headed back to Father, his shadows trailing and slithering under his boots.


	5. Chapter 5

The homunculus took proud strides as he went back to his father. The wind stroked through his hair as it whipped behind him. He listened to the screaming from Edward, waiting for it to cease forever and for the control on this body to be rightfully his.

Ed felt the small black hands scraping across his skin; it felt like they were peeling off his skin. Every contact with the hands made a patch of his body disintegrate and spark from the reaction. The lower half of his body was gone and more was disintegrating by the second. "Pride! Stop it!" Ed screeched, but his efforts were useless. Pride enjoyed hearing the boy's pleas, it was amusing to see him so helpless, soon enough he'd be no more.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as a bullet pierced the left side of his neck and exited through the front. Thick red blood spurted from the wound and dripped down his neck in big globs. Pride gasped for air as blood filled his throat and he coughed up some of the liquid through his mouth. He grabbed his throat with his left hand as he crumpled to the ground. His vision faded to black as he twitched on the cracked cement.

The grip on Edward ceased, allowing his soul's body to regenerate.

The Briggs soldier who shot the homunculus lowered his gun and smirked in satisfaction.

The vision in the homunculus' eyes came back, adjusting to the light again, the bright light reflecting off of his dull violet eyes. The wound sparked red as both the entrance and exit wound sealed up. He rolled onto his front, his knees curling under his body. His pitch-black arm pushed him back up so he was standing again. He made eye contact with the soldier who shot him, watching the smirk fade from his face. Sharp shadows rose up behind Pride aimed at the man.

A smirk crossed Pride's face as he saw the satisfaction on the soldier's face crumple into a frightened mess.

* * *

Father watched his newly-bodied son walk over to him. Father smiled as Pride got closer to him.

"Pride, how are you liking your new body?" he asked.

"Ah, this body is just perfect. The FullMetal boy has given me quite a bit of trouble, but I'm working on integrating his soul into my stone." Pride laughed.

"Is that so?" Father questioned, putting his thumb on his lip. "It's shame you won't be able to use that body anymore."

"Wha-?" Before Pride could even react, Father's hand was on his face, his fingers melting into his skin. "I'm taking your Philosopher's Stone. Be a good boy and come back to your father."

Ed flinched, with what was left of his soul's body. All that remained was some of his torso, his left arm and head. Pride gasped when the splitting pain began. Veins ran up Father's hand and all over Pride's face. Father doesn't usually remove the Philosopher's Stone directly through the vessel's face. It could cause extreme damage to the body the stone is inhabiting. Unless...

He was trying to kill Edward.

* * *

"Let go of me, Pride!" Ed screeched, as the homunculus held onto Ed.

"I'm not letting this body go so soon! If I'm leaving, I'm taking you with me! I'll leave this body an empty shell!"

Pride's tan hand grabbed Father's pale wrist, trying to get him off, but to no avail. He grunted as the connection to the body became weaker.

The shadows gripped on the rest of Ed's body sucked away, revealing a small child holding onto him. They both looked into each others eyes, both filled with frustration and rage. Ed grinned, seeing the child latched onto him. He raised his left arm, and smashed his fist into Pride's face. The homunculus squealed as Ed's fist collided with his face and he lost his grip. Silence rung around Edward as the last of Pride's souls left his body. He then felt a shock resonate within his body, leaving him in an unbearable amount of pain.

* * *

Father let go of Edward's face, watching his head arch back, and blood fly out of nose and mouth. It was almost slow motion, Ed's body falling to the ground. The shadows wrapped around where his arm should be disintegrated, revealing the missing limb that began profusely bleeding again. Everyone called out to him, Teacher, Hohenheim, Al, May, Greed, everyone.

Izumi sped over to grab the boy, her slippers smacking on the ground with every stride. She held out her arms and caught Ed in them. She raised the front of her feet, digging her heels into the ground, skidding her to a stop. She planted them again, her heels off the ground this time, launching back in the direction she came. Mid jump, she turned around to know where she was going. Izumi heard and explosion behind her, narrowly avoiding one of Father's attacks. She raced back to the others, out of the way for the barrage of attacks to begin again on Father.

Father watched the woman go back with the boy, his arms folded again. He focused on himself again. _This is a lot less souls than I expected.. I may need another one._ He thought to himself, directing his attention to Greed.

Greed stood in awe, watching the woman run back to the group, cradling Edward in her arms.

"What the fuck...? Is he back?" he asked.

"Brother!" Al screamed.

"I don't know if he's back, but he's going to die from this wound." Izumi replied.

Al gasped hearing that. There's no way Brother could die. "What do we do?" Izumi asked.

Silence rung out until Al's armor started rattling. "May... I have a favor to ask you." May looked at the armor next to her. She cocked her head to the side, wondering what he wanted. "My brother sacrificed his right arm to pull my soul back from that place. If that's an 'equivalent exchange'... Shouldn't the opposite work?" he asked.

The three gasped, realizing what Al was getting onto.

"Al, do you know what you're asking?!" Izumi blurted out.

"We can't argue about this! If we keep this up, Brother will die!" Alphonse said, his voice growing stern.

* * *

The two brothers lay on top of alkahestry circles, blood pouring on one of them.

_Come back for me, Brother, okay?_

Al raised up the rubble that was his arms, slapping his gloved palms together. He brought them back down to hover over his blood seal, causing the dried blood to glow a bright blue. The glow in his eyes faded away and his arms fell limply to the ground with a loud crash.

Next to him lay his brother, Edward Elric, his newly replaced right arm sparking.

The young Xingese girl placed her hands on the circle under the boy, causing the same blue light to emit from under him. Greed, Izumi and May both squinted from the light as their pupils contracted. The light died down as they blinked to adjust to the normal atmosphere. The older woman kneeled down to the blond boy, picking him up by his back, his head bending back limply. She shook him a little, her anxiety rising by his lack of response.

"Ms. Chang, is he okay?"

"I'm sure he's going to be fine." the Xingese girl responded between huffs of breaths.

Her huffs turned into a sharp gasp as the world around them turned red and they were all blown back off their feet. Izumi scooped the boys legs into her arms and held him close to her as they flew backwards by the extreme force of Father's attack.

* * *

Edward lay a few feet from his teacher, on his front, his limbs sprawled out on the ground. His teacher struggled to get back onto her knees, the wound in her thigh pulsing vigorously. She looked to her right to see her student twitching and trying to get up himself. She crawled over to him, placing a hand on his back.

"Ed?"

Ed gasped, feeling an actual grip on his body without strain, then seeing his original right arm. It felt so weak, it trembled when he leaned on it. His eyes widened and twitched, his face darkening.

"T-Teacher? What happened?" he whispered, then coughed out some dried blood still in his throat. He shivered, grabbing his neck with his right arm. He looked up at his teacher, who looked down on him with uncertain eyes. "Why-?"

"Your brother traded his soul for your arm."

Edward's eyes couldn't have gotten any wider, but he furrowed his eyebrows in distress. The gold in his eyes swirled with confusion.

"Wh-Why the hell would he do that?!" Ed screeched, hacking in the middle of his sentence. Chunks of dark red flew from his mouth and he trembled from the cough.

"Edward, you would've died if he didn't."

"Yo, Pipsqueak, you're back!" Greed said, walking over to them, his hands on his hips. "I almost thought you were dead th-" his sentence got cut off as an all-too-familiar tendril grabbed him by the waist, quickly dragging him away from them. Izumi and Edward's heads snapped as their eyes followed the homunculus being dragged away.

"Greed!" Ed shrieked, his voice cracking.

Greed's heels were planted into the ground, hoping the friction would slow him down even by a little bit. His ultimate shield was covering his hands as he tried to tear at the shadows holding onto him. He saw his father coming into closer view at an alarming rate. He saw Father hunched over, his arm raising up. Before he knew it, his hand was shoved into Greed's stomach and began absorbing Greed's Philosopher Stone.

"Greed... Give me your Philosopher's Stone. Be like your brother.. So obedient..."

"Like hell I'll willingly do that!" Greed grunted.

Ed shot up onto his feet, feeling very lightheaded. He ran past his teacher, trying to get out of her reach before she could object.

"Edward, no! You can't risk going back over there again!" he heard her call out in the distance. He ignored her pleas and continued sprinting, ignoring the enveloping darkness that closed in around his eyes. He felt his limbs start to go numb but disregarded the blood loss he had yet recovered from. He shook off his fading consciousness and continued forward.

"Greed! Greed!" He called out as he got closer.

He saw the homunculus look back at him. "Kid, get out of here!"

Greed's neck cracked to look into the other direction. "Hey, Lan Fan!" he shouted.

Edward staggered to stop in his tracks as he saw the warrior girl jump over to him, slicing Father's arm, and the connection to Greed's body. The stump of Father's arm and his feet started to turn grey, and the color started to crawl up his limbs. The disconnected hand disintegrated into dust.

Ling slumped to the ground, collapsing onto his knees, hopelessness filling his eyes. Ed rushed over to his side, seeing the ouroboros tattoo disintegrate off of Ling's left hand. They both looked up, to see Father stagger backwards.

"Haha, I finally got away from that annoying brat!"

"Greed, why would you defy your own father?!"

"I've always had a rebellious streak, pops, don't act so surprised.

"When you made me, you gave me the power to transform carbon. So now, I've reversed the ultimate shield and turned it into the most fragile carbon there is!"

"...You crafty devil!" Father said, sticking his hand into his mouth, pulling out the disturbing presence. "Be gone, return to nothing!" Father reconnected his teeth, cutting off Greed from his body. Ling reached out and shriek for his friend as he decayed in the air.

Fury boiled under Ed's skin as a giant scowl stretched across his mouth. He felt his legs take off for Father and his palms clapping together. He smashed his palm onto Father's now grey chest as it lit up a blinding blue. Ed's pupils contracted as he stared directly into the light source. Father's head arched back from the alchemical reaction. Ed formed a whole in Father's abdomen, his hand forcing its way through, now in a fist. He quickly pulled his hand out, bracing himself if he needed to throw another punch.

Souls burst from Father's chest, Ed felt them whip past his face as his arms now covered his eyes. The howls of the souls faded away and Ed's arms lowered to his sides.

The weakened god took shaky steps backwards, shocked by the new hole in his chest. His body trembled the longer he remained alive.

"My stone... You destroyed my stone..." he said as little black arms protruded from the hole, latching themselves onto him. He grunted as the hands pulled him into the center.

Ed held his right shoulder, breathing heavily from exhaustion. "Go back to where you came from, Homunculus. Go back, to nothing!" he said with a scowl on his face.

Father's body soon disappeared with a quick flash of red and a little cloud of dust.

The blond boy picked up his right fist, and opened it up, revealing a small fetus-like creature in his palm. Ed sighed, looking at it. He quickly took off his shredded tank top and put the fetus in the soft cloth.

* * *

Later on, Edward stood in front of his newly-bodied brother, who looked happily up at him. He held his hand out to his brother saying, "I'm here to get you, Brother."

Alphonse took his brother's hand, who helped him onto his feet. He slipped his right arm over his brother's shoulder, who gripped his wrist with a firm left hand.

"Let's go home, Al.

"Everyone's waiting for us."


End file.
